The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea plant botanically known as Hydrangea macrophylla and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘YHLAX15’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Narita, Japan during June 2008. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Hydrangea cultivars that have violet-blue colored inflorescences under acidic growing conditions and have single-type florets with wavy sepal margins.
The new Hydrangea cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is a proprietary Hydrangea macrophylla breeding selection coded TKH2000, not patented, characterized by its single-type, mophead, non-wavy margin sepals, light pink-colored inflorescences (light violet-blue colored under acidic growing conditions), medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is ‘Kiyosumi sawa’, not patented, characterized by its single-type, lacecap, non-wavy margin sepals, medium red-picotee colored inflorescences, deep green foliage with burgundy flushes, and vigorous, upright growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during June 2011 in a controlled environment in in Narita, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by softwood cuttings since June 2011 in Narita, Japan and Irvington, Ala. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.